Mark Green's Atheopaganism Blog

Atheopagan Principle 6 is about praxis: having a spiritual practice. For many, that involves rituals and seasonal celebrations. For others, simple walks in nature or periods of quiet meditation fulfill that purpose.

For many who are just coming into Atheopaganism, this can be a little daunting. How to start? What is this ritual stuff, anyway? I’ve written on these questions before.

But fundamentally, we say having a practice is important because to be human is to contain multitudes. We are not only actors, creators, family members, citizens. We are complex and manifold manifestations of the Universe.

Each of us carries a unique poetry within us.

And it is the enactment of that poetry, the experience of deep living that is why we say one should have a practice: a regular behavior that brings you into communication with what you feel and experience. With the joy and wonder and deep questions that correlate to being alive and human.

Atheopaganism is a religious path that is about what we do, far more than what we believe. What we believe we can leave to science and reason. But what we do?

That, well.

That’s personal to each of us.

One day, I hope to have the honor of sharing a ritual circle with you. But in the meantime, we all have our own ways of celebrating and observing, and all I can say to you is: keep doing that. 

So draw that daily Tarot card. Light the candles, and the incense, and create a Focus for the season. Make a point of watching the sunrise, or the sunset. Honor the full Moon. Walk in the rain, and tip your face to the sky. Splash in the puddles! Gather the bright autumn leaves, the pine cones, the seed pods. Admire and treasure the fossils and sea shells, the antlers and bones, the flowers and leaves.

Dye the eggs for springtime and dance about the Maypole. Burn the old year’s losses in the Hallows fire, and sing the joy of the reborn Sun about the Yule tree.

Breathe the cold, crisp, fragrant air…or the warm, humid, fragrant air. Hike the forest and climb the mountain; go to the hot spring, the waterfall, the lakeside, the ocean. Speak the Magic Words. Wave the wand, or the knife, or the other ritual tool. Dance around the fire. Sing!

Live, and celebrate living. For this is the way of Atheopaganism: to be as fully alive as we can be, and to shine in this luminous, confounding world.